The formation of this committee was prompted by some disconcerting statistics.
Figure 1 shows the percentage of S.B. degrees awarded to women during the
1992-93 academic year for an array of MIT departments in science and
engineering. It's striking that women accounted for a relatively low fraction
of the degrees awarded both in Electrical Engineering (Course 6-1) and Computer
Science (Course 6-3). While women comprised 32% of all 1993 S.B. degree
recipients, and also 32% of S.B. degree recipients in the School of Engineering
overall, they accounted for only 22% of the degrees in Electrical Engineering.
In Computer Science, women accounted for only 15% of the degrees awarded--the
lowest ratio of any MIT undergraduate program with more than a few majors.[1]

Examining only the percentage of women, as in figure 1, ignores the variation
in the total number of students in each area. To provide a clearer picture,
figure 2 shows for 1993 the percentage of MIT S.B. degrees that were awarded in
each area, with men and women shown separately. We see that, although EE has a
relatively low ratio of women to men, EE was in fact one of the largest
attractors of women: 12% of MIT women (42 of the 352 receiving degrees in 1993)
obtained their degrees in EE. This was a larger number than any other area
except Chemical Engineering.

One reason that the ratio (Figure 1) is so small is that EE is so much
more attractive to men: 20% (147) of MIT men in 1993 received degrees in
EE. To put it another way, a woman was only 2/3 as likely as a man to be
receiving a degree in EE. Computer Science, which attracted 4% (15) of the
women and 11% (82) of the men, shows a greater imbalance than EE: a woman was
only 2/5 as likely as a man to be receiving a degree in CS. This is in
striking contrast to, say, Chemical Engineering, which attracted 12% (51) of
the women and 4% (32) of the men, making a woman 3 1/2 times as likely as a man
to be receiving a degree in Chem E.

Figure 2: Of the 352 women and the 748 men who received MIT S.B. degrees
during the 1992-93 academic year, the chart shows what fraction of the men and
women received degrees in each area. Source: National Center for Educational
Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Completions Survey,
1992-93.

A measure the imbalance in male/female undergraduate enrollment that seems
useful in comparing different departments and even different schools is the
adjusted ratio of women to men., which is computed as the ratio of the
fraction of all women at the school who are in the department to the fraction
of all men at the school who are in the department. Thus to compare the number
of degrees granted to women and men we would compute:

(degrees in field to women / total degrees to women) / (degrees in field to men
/ total degrees to men)

The difference between this ratio and 100% indicates the disparity in the rates
at which men and women major in the field.

The following chart shows this ratio for degrees granted in 1993 and in 1991
(which we use below for comparison with other schools). We also compute the
adjusted ratio at which men and women in the 1994 sophomore class chose to
major in EECS, and the ratio at which current sophomores indicated an interest
in majoring in EECS on their MIT application forms.[2] For degrees granted in 1991 and 1993,
we show ratios in EE, in CS, and in EECS combined. For current sophomores we
show only EECS combined.[3]

As the table shows, women at MIT are only about half as likely as men to major
in EECS. Also, from 1991 to 1993, women within the department apparently
shifted from CS to EE (the enrollment history in figure 5 confirms this). It's
also not clear what to make of the drop in ratio from 1993 degrees to 1994
sophomore enrollments.

The percentages in figure 2 are based on relatively small numbers and so are
subject to change from year to year. Figure 3 compares these percentages for
degrees granted in 1991, 1992, and 1993, with men and women shown separately.

The enrollment patterns were reasonably consistent over the three years. The
most significant change was the large shift in women enrollment from biology to
chemical engineering. In EECS, the overall percentage of men and women was
stable (28% of men and 15% of women in 1991 versus 31% of men and 16% of women
in 1993), although there was a notable shift in women from computer science to
electrical engineering.

It's also interesting to remark that male enrollment is noticeably
more "bunched" than female enrollment: 47% of MIT undergraduate men received
degrees in the three most popular areas for men (EE, MechE, and CS), while 37%
of the women received degrees in the three most popular areas for women (Chem
E, EE, and Biology).

In addition, the data contradicts, for MIT, some of the hypotheses that are
often put forward to explain why relatively fewer women than men major in EE
and CS. It's common to observe that women are generally not as attracted
engineering fields as are men. While this is true nationally (see figure 13
below), MIT students form a very distinct population. As shown in figure 1,
the ratio of women to men in engineering is virtually the same as the ratio of
women to men for all S.B. degrees--an MIT woman was just as likely as an MIT
man to receive a degree in an engineering field.[4]

The data also discredits the view sometimes expressed that women, more than
men, tend to avoid rigid programs in favor of programs with more electives.
Chemical engineering, which attracts the relatively largest number of women, is
also the program at MIT with the largest number of requirements and the fewest
number of electives.

Figure 3: Percentages of male (top chart) and female (bottom chart) MIT S.B.
degree recipients who received degrees in each area for the academic years
1990-91, 1991-92, and 1992-93. Total numbers of degree recipients were: 1991,
731 men and 376 women; 1992, 679 men and 360 women; 1993, 748 men and 352
women. Source: National Center for Educational Statistics, Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System Completions Surveys.

Figure 4 shows the total MIT undergraduate degrees granted in EE and CS for
men and women from 1971-1993, and figure 5 shows separately the percentages of
men and women receiving degrees in EE and CS over this same period.[5] As described in the Report of the
ad hoc Committee on Undergraduate Enrollment in Course VI,[6] there was little correlation between
the choices of men and women to major in Course 6 vs. other departments at MIT,
but a strong correlation between the choices made by men and women for EE vs.
CS since 1985. As noted above, the introduction of the 6-2 program will make
it difficult to track the EE vs. CS distinction in the coming years.

Figure 4: Number of MIT S.B. degrees granted to men and women over the period
1971-1993. Source: National Center for Educational Statistics, Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System Completions Surveys.

Figure 5: Percentages of MIT S.B. degrees granted to men and women each year
in electrical engineering (top) and in computer science (bottom). Source:
National Center for Educational Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education
Data System Completions Surveys.

The discussion above shows that women at MIT major in EE and CS at about half
the rate that men do. Even so, this is a significant number of MIT women
majors--EECS granted the largest number of degrees to women of any department
in 1993 (16% of all degrees to women), and EE alone (6-1) was second after
Chemical Engineering in the number of degrees granted to women. These numbers
are also significant in comparison with other institutions. For example, the
29 degrees granted in electrical engineering to MIT women in 1991 is more than
the 27 degrees granted to women in EE in the combined graduating classes
that year at CMU, RPI, Stanford, and Cal Tech, which together graduated three
times as may women that year as did MIT. In computer science, MIT awarded 27
degrees to women--the same number as in the combined graduating classes at CMU,
RPI, Stanford, and Princeton, which together graduated four times as many women
as at MIT.

Figures 6, 7, and 8 show the fractions of men and women receiving 1991
bachelor's degrees in various area for CMU, RPI , and Georgia Tech--schools
that, like MIT, have substantial undergraduate engineering enrollment. These
should be compared with figures 2 and 3, which show analogous data for MIT.

Figure 6: Fraction of 1991 degrees awarded to men and women in various areas at
Carnegie-Mellon University. The disparity between women and men in computer
science was about the same as at MIT. In electrical engineering, only 3% of
women received degrees in EE, as opposed to 14% of men--a disparity about twice
as much as at MIT. Source: National Center for Educational Statistics,
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Completions Surveys.

Figure 7: Fraction of 1991 degrees awarded to men and women in various areas
at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Disparity in rates at which men and
women major in EE and CS is similar to MIT. Unlike MIT, the most attractive
area for both men and women is Mechanical Engineering (these figures also
include Industrial Engineering). Source: National Center for Educational
Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Completions
Surveys.

Figure 7: Fraction of 1991 degrees awarded to men and women in various areas
at Georgia Institute of Technology. As at RPI, Mechanical (and Industrial)
Engineering is the largest attractor fro both men and women. Disparity between
men and women for EE and CS is similar to MIT. Source: National Center for
Educational Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
Completions Surveys.

Figures 8, 9, and 10 attempt to show comparisons across schools of the
differential rates of male and female enrollment in engineering as a whole, in
electrical engineering, and in computer science. In each figure, the top chart
shows the percentage of all degrees awarded to men and women that were awarded
in each area. The bottom chart shows the

For engineering overall (figure 8), it comes as no surprise that both men and
women major in engineering at higher rates in the predominantly engineering
schools than in the more broadly-based universities. More interesting is the
fact that the disparity between the rates at which men and women major
in engineering is also noticeably less at the engineering schools. Whatever
general factors tend to disproportionately attract men toward engineering or
disproportionately discourage women from engineering are considerably less of
an issue at the predominantly engineering schools. For example, a woman
receiving her degree at Stanford in 1991 was only 40% as likely as a man to be
receiving it in an engineering field, while a woman at MIT in 1991 was 80% as
likely as a man to be receiving it in engineering.

Figure 8: (Top) Percentages of all 1991 Bachelor's degrees that were awarded
in engineering at selected schools, shown separately for men and for women.
Numbers above each column show the number of men and women receiving degrees in
engineering. For example, MIT granted 383 engineering degrees to men and 153
engineering degrees to women in 1991. For comparison the figure also shows MIT
data for 1993. The MIT engineering numbers do not include Computer Science
(6-3). (Bottom) Ratio of the percentage for women to the percentage for men.
A ratio of 100% means that a man was just as likely as a woman to have received
a degree in engineering. Source: National Center for Educational Statistics,
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Completions Surveys.

Figure 9 shows the analogous ratios for degrees granted in electrical
engineering. Of the schools shown here, only MIT, RPI, Georgia Tech and
CalTech had more than 5% of women receiving degrees in EE. All schools except
for CalTech showed significant disparity in the rate at which men were
attracted to EE over women.[8] Schools
with small EE departments had few women on a relative as well as an absolute
scale: at Cornell 9 out of 751 women received degrees in EE, at Stanford 7 out
of 601 women received degrees in EE.

Figure 9 (Top) Percentages of all 1991 Bachelor's degrees that were awarded in
electrical engineering at selected schools, shown separately for men and for
women. Numbers at the top of each column show the number of EE degrees granted
to men and women. For example, MIT granted 129 degrees in EE to men and 29
degrees in EE to women in 1991. MIT data is shown both for 1991 and 1993.
(Bottom) Ratio of the percentage for women to the percentage for men. A ratio
of 100% means that a man was just as likely as a woman to have received a
degree in electrical engineering. Source: National Center for Educational
Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Completions
Surveys.

Figure 10: (Top) Percentages of all 1991 Bachelor's degrees that were awarded
in computer science at selected schools, shown separately for men and for
women. Numbers at the top of each column show the number of CS degrees granted
to men and women. For example, MIT granted 170 degrees in CS to men and 27
degrees in CS to women in 1991. MIT data is shown both for 1991 and 1993.
(Bottom) Ratio of the percentage for women to the percentage for men. A ratio
of 100% means that a man was just as likely as a woman to have received a
degree in computer science. Source: National Center for Educational
Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Completions
Surveys.

Figure 10 shows the analogous ratios for degrees granted in computer science.
Despite figure 1's small ratio of men to women in MIT computer science--when
compared with other departments at MIT--figure 10 shows that MIT is
comparable to other selective schools, as measured both by the fraction of
women receiving degrees in CS and by the smaller disparity in the rates at
which women and men received degrees in CS. For some schools, the numbers of
women majoring in CS are minuscule: of the 441 women graduating from Princeton
in 1991, only 1 received a degree in CS; of the 725 women graduating from
Harvard that year, only 2 received degrees in CS.

To provide some perspective on the data above, this section presents some
national statistics on undergraduate women enrollment in EE and CS.

Figure 11: Numbers of US Bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering, and
percentage of degrees awarded to women, 1979-1990. Source: US Dept. of
Education, National Center for Educational Statistics, cited in Women and
Minorities in Science and Engineering: an Update, National Science
Foundation, NSF 92-303, 1992.

Figure 11 shows the number of degrees awarded nationally in electrical
engineering from 1979 through 1990. The percentage of women graduating in EE
has always been relatively low, and the numbers of both men and women, as well
as the percentage of women, actually decreased somewhat from 1988 to 1990.
Women received 14% of degrees in 1988, down to 12% in 1990.

Figure 12 shows the analogous data for computer science. Here, women account
for a much higher percentage of degrees than in EE, but the decline in women
enrollment since the mid 80s, both in absolute numbers and relative to men, has
been much more pronounced. Women accounted for 37% of computer science
bachelor's degrees in 1984 and 1985 but only 30% of degrees in 1990.[9]

Figure 12: Numbers of US Bachelor's degrees, and percentage of degrees awarded
to women, 1979-1990. Source: US Dept. of Education, National Center for
Educational Statistics. Source: US Dept. of Education, National Center for
Educational Statistics, cited in Women and Minorities in Science and
Engineering: an Update, National Science Foundation, NSF 92-303, 1992.

It's interesting to note that this downward trend in percentages of women in
EE and CS is unlike the situation in some other areas in science and
engineering, as shown in figure 13.

Figure 13: Numbers of US Bachelor's degrees granted to men and women, and
percentages of degrees to women, for selected areas in science and engineering.
Source: US Dept. of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics,
cited in Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering: an Update,
National Science Foundation, NSF 92-303, 1992.

In general, EECS is a "net draw" for students, that is, the number of students
enrolling in EECS as sophomores is larger than the number of those students who
indicate an intention to major in EECS on their application to MIT.[10] From the fall 93 entering class
(i.e., fall 94 sophomores), there are currently 58 women (16% of the women) and
247 men (35% of the men) enrolled in Course 6, from a total class of 363 women
and 704 men. When these students applied to MIT, 39 women (11% of the women)
and 190 men (27% of the men) had indicated an intention to major in EECS.
Thus, EECS was a "draw" for both men and women, and the percentage of increase
was about the same for men and women.

It is also interesting to examine EECS preference as it relates to the
decision to enroll at MIT.

As the table shows, MIT's yield (fraction of admitted students who choose to
attend MIT) is higher than average among students intending to major in EECS.
It is disconcerting that this was not true for women in 1994.

This suggests that a productive approach to equalizing the gender balance in
EECS undergraduate enrollment would be to attempt some active recruiting to
increase the admissions yield among women with EECS interests.

At MIT, women are about half as likely as men to major in EECS. In contrast,
for the School of Engineering overall, women and men major in engineering at
the same rate. Even though the ratio of women to men is low, the absolute
numbers of women in EECS are significant--more women received S.B. degrees in
EECS in 1991 than in any other department.

It is difficult to make the case that the low ratio of women to men is the
result of factors unique to MIT. MIT does about as well as other selective
engineering schools, and better than selective non-engineering schools, in the
rates at which women major both in electrical engineering and in computer
science relative to men. Also, EECS is a net "draw" for both men and women
between their admission to MIT and their choice of a major, and the percentage
of increase is about the same for men as for women.

Nevertheless, the committee believes that maintaining national leadership in
EECS education requires more than merely doing somewhat less badly then
comparable schools. We might improve the gender balance in EECS by attempting
to increase the yield ratio of admitted women students with EECS interests.
Beyond that, chapter 2 attempts to identify factors internal to MIT whose
change might improve the situation.